Amaranthine
by Smoochynose
Summary: There's a girl and there's a god. That's something that never really changes across the centuries.


A/N: This has basis in the Tsukuyomi theory, which is hinted at but not outright stated. For those unfamiliar there's notes at the end because the theory has certain spoilers for this fic.

Edit 21/02/16: Added a short poem I discovered at the end. It matches this pairing so much.

* * *

 **Amaranthine**

 **There's a girl and there's a god. That's something that never really changes across the centuries.**

* * *

The god is still young (in both heavenly and mortal terms) when he sees the girl for the first time. He's passing by the outskirts of a small village in one of the more eastern islands of the Land of the Rising Sun when he spots her. She's all alone, her house and the field she is working just a bit further from the rest, and is intensely focused on tending to the crops. Even if he wasn't a denizen of the far shore, the god is certain he would have had no problem getting so close without the girl realising.

The god isn't sure why the girl interests him, aside from the fact that she is human and he is born from human wishes. He finds himself wandering closer, taken in her patched clothes and blistered hands, until he is close enough to see the way the sweat drops off her brow. She's not beautiful, not in the way the painted women dressed in silks he's seen in the houses of lords are, but there's something in the determined set of her jaw that captivates him.

The girl draws back and stretches out before looking up. She screams and falls backwards staring at the god in fear.

There's a thrill of playful anticipation. The girl _sees_ him. She sees him without him needing to do anything to draw her attention.

"Hello," he says. How does one interact with a human?

"G-good afternoon," the girl says. Her eyes flicker around, probably to see if any help would come if she needed it. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Not really. I'm just passing through."

The girl stared at him, eyes drifting down to his side. "You're hurt, sir," she tells him.

The god looks down at his right side, where the clothes are torn from his unfortunate run in with an ayakashi. The wound has already mostly healed and he's already purified the blight inflicted. "It's fine."

The girl shakes her head. "Come, I know some healing and I can fix that tear for you." She all but drags him into the small house. "Please have a seat, sir." A quick glance as he settles tells him there is at least one other, presumably male, occupant.

"You are married?" he asks, watching the girl as she pulls out some herbs and begins grinding them into a poultice.

"No, sir. I live with my father and brother. They've gone to the city to sell produce."

"And your mother?"

"She died. A few years ago now. There was a sickness that spread in the village. She did what she could to help but eventually it took her too. She taught me what I know about healing." She examined the paste she had made and nodded to herself, bring it and other assorted items over to the god. "I-I'll need to get t-to the wound, sir," she stuttered.

The god nodded and, despite wondering at how she would react if he were to remove the yukata completely, went easy on her by just pulling the top half down to his waist.

Using a wet cloth the girl wiped away the dirt and blood on the wound. She ran a gentle hand over the markings just above his hip. "What manner of creature did this?"

"An ayakashi."

The girl paused. "And how did you come to be so close to such a spirit?"

"Gods smell nice to them."

The girl looked up to meet his eyes, before casting them aside and applying the poultice. "You are a god, sir?"

"Yes?"

There was silence as the girl continued to apply the paste.

"You're not going to ask me more?"

"How does one speak to a god?"

The god shrugged. "I am not sure. How does one speak to a human?"

The girl smiled. "You seem to be doing fine. I need to wrap the bandages, lift your arms up." She froze, realising that she had just commanded a god. "Please, sir," she added.

The god chuckled but raised his arms. The air between the two relaxed and stayed that way, even when the girl passed him some of her brothers clothes and asked him change in order for her to mend his clothes. They fell into an easy companionship that even after the girl mended the clothes and the god joined her in preparing an evening meal, they did not realise the time passing until it was almost dark out.

"You can stay the night," she told him, looking out at the darkness. "My father and brother won't be home until tomorrow."

The god looked at her and realised she would have offered even if he hadn't been a god. "Thank you." Then, to his surprise, conversation flowed easily between them long into the night. At some point the girl drifted off to sleep and the god followed shortly after.

When the god woke the next morning, the girl was already up and had prepared breakfast. The food was simple but the companionship more than made up for it. "You know," he told her as he prepared to leave, "as a god, I can grant you a wish if you like."

"I wouldn't know what to wish for, sir."

"Anything you like. If it's within my power then I will make it possible."

The girl paused, thought about for a while, and then looked up at the god with a wide smile. "Be safe. That is my wish."

There was a small flutter in the god's chest. Never had anyone wished for his benefit. He felt his face heat up and turned away. "Your wish has been heard loud and clear."

"There is something else, if it's not too much, sir?"

The god's stomach sank. Of course the human wanted more. They always did. "What is it that you want?"

"It's selfish… but if you're ever near here again, I would like to see you again, sir. Only if you don't mind though."

The god smiled. "May we meet again."

He leaves then, happy to have met such a human. Every summer he returns and every summer she is waiting. Sometimes he stays just a few hours; sometimes (once she has moved into her own house as a local healer) his stay stretches into months. It doesn't matter when he arrives or what state he in or even if he has a shinki trailing behind him, she is always happy to see him.

One year he returns to find a small shrine outside the house. It takes a moment for the god to realise it's his. He can't help the few tears that escape.

The girl, long a woman really, finds him outside and guides him in. She pulls out a fresh set of clothes she keeps especially for him. "Welcome home, sir," she tells him.

"Will you ever call me by my name?"

"Maybe," she says and leaves it at that.

"You've never married?" he asks.

"I don't think that would be fair on anyone," she admits.

"I-" he begin before falling silent, unsure what to say. In the end the god just nods but the subject weighs heavily on his mind the whole time. Even if he didn't mean to, he stole the girl's chance at an ordinary life. He stole her chance to be a wife, to be a mother. Part of him is grateful that he never had to watch that, the rest of him feels guilt at taking that away from her.

This year when the god leaves at the end of summer, he pauses on the doorstep to meet the girl's eyes. She's physically older than him now and has developed laugh lines around her eyes. He's suddenly aware of how fast human life can go and how much of the girl's he had already wasted.

"Is there something you need, sir?"

"Next time I return, I have something to ask you."

She smiles more brightly then he has ever seen, like she just knows what he'll ask her. "I'll be waiting, sir."

That winter a plague sweeps over the land and by the time he returns in summer he is too late.

* * *

Yuki is enjoying the matsuri festival, dancing happily to music played by a travelling group, when she bumps into the person behind her.

"I'm sorry," she says.

The man stares wide eyed at her. "You're-" He cuts himself off.

"Are you okay, sir?"

"I'm fine. I think…"

"You don't sound too sure about that." She smiles at him, ignoring the way her chest flutters when he smiles warmly at her.

"I just… have we met before?"

"I'm sure I would remember someone like you, sir," Yuki says boldly. And then a strange confidence fills her and she grabs his hand, "Come dance with me!"

The man lets himself be guided into a dance by her. Yuki finds herself enjoying the night more with the man by her side, especially when he begins to relax.

The next day, when Yuki giggles with her friends, she's momentarily confused that they don't remember the man. It had been a long night after all and more than a few folk from out of town passing through.

When she finishes work the next day, the man is waiting outside of the lord's house she's a maid at. He smiles up at her when he sees her leaving.

"May I walk you home, Miss Yuki?"

Yuki stares at the man. "Are you a stalker?"

The man looks flustered and starts waving his hands in denial. "No. Of course not. I just asked around about you is all." He seemed to realise that this was not the best thing to say. "What I mean is I wanted to know more about you so I found out where you lived and…" he trailed off, stopping himself before he dug an even bigger hole for himself.

Yuki wasn't sure whether to be amused or worried about his attentions.

The man ran a hand through his dark hair, before looking up at her with bright, blue eyes. "I'd like to get to know you, Miss Yuki. If that's alright by you."

Yuki thinks about it. The man is weird and sort of a stalker but his eyes are honest. "I suppose I could give my stalker a bit of my time."

The man blushes. "I'm not a stalker."

Yuki shrugs. "It's too late. It's stuck. You're always going to be a creepy stalker to me." Before he can frown too much, Yuki walks ahead and calls over her shoulder for him to join her. He catches up to her side with a smile.

She learns in time that her stalker, as weird as he can be at times, is a good person. His heart is gentle but forged from steel. She admires that about him.

She also learns in time that people aren't as aware of her friend as she is.

"You're not human, are you," she asks one day as they sit in the shade beneath a blossoming tree.

Her stalker stiffens. "No. Is that a problem?"

Yuki shakes her head. "You're still weird and a stalker. You not being human just explains a few things."

The stalker relaxed beside her.

"So what are you? A kitsune maybe?"

"I'm not a stinky fox!" her stalker exclaimed indignantly. "Can't you tell? I'm a god."

Yuki couldn't help the laughter that excaped.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You just don't seem very godlike to me."

"I have a shrine and everything… I could take you to the heavens with me, if you wanted. You'd never have to work again." The offer was quiet and tentative thing. He was giving Yuki the ability to shatter him with her answer and trusting her not to.

"Was that a proposal?"

Her stalker nodded, biting at his lip.

"I still want to work," Yuki declared.

He blinks up at her blankly and she can almost see his brain malfunctioning behind his eyes. Then stands and starts walking away.

It takes Yuki a second to realise he is just walking away after she accepted the proposal. She scowls and chases after him. "Get back here, you idiot! What kind of stalker are you? That was the part where you were supposed to kiss me!"

* * *

Youko was still a young child when a god passed through her village and took an interest in her. She doesn't remember it very clearly but she can remember playing all night with her new friend she made at the Tsukimi festival, only to return home to panicked parents who had been trying to find her for hours. They made a point of making it clear how close she had come to being spirited away.

The next year at the Tsukimi festival Youko's parents tried to keep a close eye on her, only to have her slip away when she spotted her friend at the top of the hill. He told her stories of the gods that she had never heard before, how one in particular took a human for a bride and loved her until the day she died. He seemed sad when telling her that tale, only to smile at the end and tell her how the bride was reborn. Then he carried her great distances to watch the moon from the best places. At some point she fell asleep, only to wake as he placed her in her bed.

"Will I see you again, kami-sama?"

"I'll be back next year."

And he was. And every year after that. Each Tsukimi festival Youko would be spirited away by the man, the god really, and returned safely home in the morning. The rest of the villagers were wary but it eventually became just one of those things that happened.

As she grows, Youko becomes aware of something her child self wasn't. The god is handsome. The more years that pass the more important this fact becomes. She believes herself cunning when she holds onto him that bit tighter as he carries her to the best places to view the moon, only to blush in embarrassment as he grins at her knowingly.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself, kami-sama. You're just warm."

The god smiles and says nothing more. However, when he leaves in the early hours of the morning, he presses a chaste kiss to her lips.

"You've grown beautiful, Youko," he tells her, before disappearing before she can respond.

She scowls, knowing it will be a full year before she can pay him back for that.

In the end it isn't a full year before she sees him again. In late spring the village had two unusual visitors. One was an old woman and the other a young man. Both had red markings on their skin that any of those who were literate would be able to tell were names.

"You are Youko?" the old woman asks, not looking particularly impressed.

"She is," the boy said looking a little wide eyed.

"How do you know?" Youko asked, but the boy just shook his head.

"Our master wishes to see you."

"Your master?"

"The god. Unless you know more than one."

Youko shakes her head. "How come he wants to see me now?"

The woman frowns and the boy looks like he's going to burst into tears. There's a heavy feeling in Youko's stomach and she knows what they're going to say. So to put it off as long as she can she doesn't let them say it.

"I'll come."

On the way to the god's side, she asks the pair what could injure a god.

"Our master has never been good at giving up on people, even when he should. He took in a shinki that cannot accept the life we have now. Our sins blight our master and if the ablution fails then it will kill him."

Youko swallows and is silent the rest of the journey. When they arrive at the shrine there is a pillar of light, surrounded at three points by tired and anxious looking shinki, inside half transformed is the cause of the anxiety.

Curled up on the floor and covered in dark purplish marks is the god Youko has grown to know. Pained blue eyes look up at her and a weak smile forms on his face. "You came."

"Of course I came, kami-sama." She reached out for his hand but the boy shinki stopped her.

"If you touch him the blight will only spread to you." A lump formed in her throat. She looked between the shinki and the god, set her shoulders, and took the hand.

"I'm right here, kami-sama," she told him, even as the shinki gasped.

"D-don't cry," he told her, "I'll just be reborn."

"But you won't remember. All those precious moments will be forgotten."

"Even without memory, something remains. It's why y-" The god is cut off by a pained cry. Behind them the pillar of light falters and something monstrous escapes.

"Borderline!" two nearer voices cry.

The ayakashi that was once a spirit tries to break through and Youko is unable to see what happened to the three other shinki.

The hand in hers grows weak and Youko cries when it goes limp, before vanishing altogether.

The god, her god, is dead.

The two shinki pull her away and she only becomes aware of taking shelter at a shrine later once the shock has settled.

Then there is another god standing over her and Youko is unsure how to act. This god is not her god, who since childhood has been her friend. And even though this god is small and childlike in form, she has an aura of otherness that has Youko on edge. The goddess has the potential to be dangerous if she so desires.

Instead she smiles. "Thank you for being there for him. You can rest here, the water will purify your blight and I''ll have some of my shinki escort you home."

The goddess offers no explanation as to who she is or how she knows Youko's god but makes good on her word and Youko is safely home, blight free, less than a week since she first left. She isn't sure how to act. There is a massive whole in her chest and no one else seems to understand. Her friend is dead. Her god is dead. And life just continues.

It isn't fair.

The weeks slowly pass and she gains a reputation for being even stranger than the girl who is spirited away each Tsukimi. They say this time not all of her came back, which is half true. The night of the Tsukimi she is unable to gather the strength to follow everyone to the moon viewing. Her parents aren't sure whether to be relieved or concerned.

She's been alone in the house a few hours when there's a knock at the door. When she opens it, Youko sees the boy shinki who she met before.

"There's someone who wants to meet you," the boy says, stepping to the side and revealing a young child. For a second Youko isn't sure what she is seeing, until bright blue eyes blink up at her.

"You really were reborn," she breathes.

"Did you really know my other self?" the child asks.

"I did. Do you want me to tell you about him?"

The young god nods and somehow a new tradition develops. Each tsukimi the young god comes to her house and instead of being the one enraptured by the tales told, Youko is the one telling them. While things are different, the fond companionship remains. The god grows slowly and, by the time she passes of old age, he is still far from fully grown.

* * *

Kumori was born knowing that there was someone out there for her. It was never something she doubted. When her siblings cried when her parents left to visit the city, Kumori alone was without tears. Why should she fear being left alone when there was someone special out there waiting for her?

This knowledge often got her into trouble. Helpful neighbours would often drag her back to her parents, explaining how they found her with couple of coins and a rice ball, expecting that she could get all the way to the capitol.

Her parents would groan and drag her inside and explain to her yet again that she couldn't go running off.

Kumori would listen and nod and apologise at the end and then by the next week would be caught making a grand attempt.

"But I have to find him," she'd whinge in explanation. She wasn't going to sit around and hope that they came looking for her. That could take forever. Besides, she got the feeling that he needed her to find him this time. Kumori didn't question the 'this time' of her thoughts. It was just something that was.

Eventually her parents managed to beat it into Kumori's head that going off unprepared would just end with her in an early grave and then she'd never meet the precious person she was so certain was out there. Instead of her ill-fated attempts at leaving, instead her parent's watched as she set aside all her money in order to travel properly.

When she had finally saved enough and was old enough to leave, she waved goodbye to her home and family without a second's doubt about her path.

Travelling was a unique experience and sometimes a dangerous one. However, when she had finally travelled about as far west as she could without leaving her homeland, she came across a tired looking house and knew that this was where the one she had been searching for was.

"Hello?" she called, pushing through the front door. When nobody answered she made her way to the back of the house. There she found a man huddled in a corner, his face buried in his arms. Kumori got the feeling he had been like that a long time.

Kumori felt overwhelmingly sad for the man.

"Sorry I took so long."

The man shifted and there was a shock of blue she had only ever seen her dreams.

"I'm home now."

* * *

Lady Amaya has lived within the halls of the god for so many years that the regalia there sometimes forget that she's human. Even when they do for the most part they treat her with no less respect than they treat their god. He must have a reason for taking her as his bride after all.

A couple of the older shinki, the ones that have been with their god the longest, treat her with the most respect but hold their tongues when asked why.

Kiyone doesn't get it.

Lady Amaya only causes their lord pain. Every time he looks at her, sees the way she ages, his eyes turn sad. She doesn't get why everyone can treat her with such respect when her presence in the heavens is hurting their lord.

"You want to help him," a man says behind her one day.

Kiyone jumps back in surprise, readying to draw a borderline. "Who are you?"

"Someone who can help," he says.

Kiyone knows better to trust strangers but loneliness has a way of making you vulnerable and Kiyone has been lonely a while, her dislike of Lady Amaya setting her apart from the rest of the shinki.

She doesn't listen to the man that day but she meets with him again and again and again, until he's settled in place as trusted confidant. He starts making suggestions to Kiyone about how to improve things for her god.

The suggestions work and her god smiles proudly down at her, in a way that she had almost forgotten. When she visits her friend, beaming with happiness, she doesn't hesitate to listen to more of his advice.

The man smiles.

* * *

Amaya returns home from a trip into town to find her home in chaos. Shoji have been torn to shreds, blood is splattered across the rooms, and her husband's precious shinki are scattered and blighted.

She runs to the side of the closest, lifting the girl from the floor and trying to slow her bleeding, ignoring the way blight spread up her arms. There was so much blood.

"What happened here?"

Kiyone looks up at her with tear filled eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought he was a friend."

"Kiyone?"

"He's going to kill our lord. He's a sorcerer. He intends to control the succession."

Amaya's hands fell to her sides in shock. "Where?"

Kiyone weakly points further into the house. "I'm so sorry," she cries.

Amaya was torn between helping her shinki and going to her husband's side. However his pained cry carrying through the house to her made the decision for her.

She scrabbled through the house until she saw him, writhing on the floor in agony. Amaya had never seen a case of blight so bad. She rushed to his side, only to be caught by the waist by a dark haired man, who had been waiting just out of sight.

She called her husband's name. Blue eyes flickered, terrified up at her.

Amaya screams and tries to reach the god as he struggles against the blight. "Stop it! Stop it! Don't kill him!"

"Am..aya," the god chokes out, hand stretched out towards her. "L-let her… go."

The sorcerer pulls at her hair to make her face him. "You're just in the way," he tells her, "Go to your god. You can die together." She cries out as pain blossoms in her side as he buries a knife in.

The god screams and Amaya collapses as the man lets go of her. She crawls over to the god, choking back the pain with each movement, until she's in his arms. The blight burns at her skin but it doesn't matter anymore. The wound is a fatal one.

"I'm sorry," he cries into her hair, "This is all my fault."

She shakes her head. "I wan…ted to save… you." Tears burn at her eyes. Even when they both die here for her it'll be over quickly but for her god's next incarnation the hell is only just beginning. She can feel the sorcerer calmly watching behind her. She's dizzy and lightheaded and darkness dances in the edge of her vision.

"Amaya…"

She leans in close and whispers so only her god can hear. "I w-will… save y-you. No matter how many… lives it t-takes."

"May ou…our fates inter…twine."

* * *

Yaboku watches the girl from higher up the hill, as he has done the last three evenings. There's something about her that catches his interest. He's pretty sure that she's human, even if he's not sure what could possibly interest him about a human.

"What are you watching?" Father asks.

Yaboku points at the girl.

There's a moment of shock from his side before he feels Father tense.

"It's time to home, Yaboku."

"Who is she?" the young god asks.

"Home," Father says firmly.

The next day the girl is gone and Yaboku tries to bury the knowledge that his beloved father is behind it.

* * *

When she's young, Hinatea her parents with the stories she tells that a man is coming for her one day. It amuses them less and less as she grows older and, eventually, more despondent when the promised man does not show.

She spends all her time staring off into the distance, up at the moon, wondering why he's never shown. She doesn't even know who 'he' is, just that he's important and is supposed to be there.

When she is seventeen, she turns down the first marriage proposal. While the boy is nice, his standing isn't too high and so her parents aren't too bothered. Then she turns down the next proposal and the next, staring out into a distance for a man that isn't coming.

Sometimes, she prays to the gods to send her what is missing. Only once does she get an answer. The girl, who is undoubtedly a god, joins her one day when she is waiting. She's beautiful and somehow familiar.

They sit in silence, watching the moon together for a bit.

"He's not coming," the goddess tells her.

Hinatea hands clench.

"He's vanished from the heavens," the goddess continues. "You should forget him, live a normal human life. Do you not want a husband, children, family? You would give these things up for a ghost?"

Tears fill her eyes. "He'll come. He always does." Hinatea doesn't even know who she is talking about but her very being calls out for and misses him.

"You'd be happier if you just forgot," the goddess tells her. "He wouldn't want you to waste your life when he's not coming."

"He'll come," she says in a quiet whisper.

The goddess sighs but stands. "If you ever wish to forget, just make a wish."

Hinatea spends the rest of the night and then the rest of her life waiting but the man never comes. She never makes that wish.

* * *

"Why are we here?" Yato asks Sakura as she guides him to a small clearing littered with markers. At the end stood a group of people, several of whom were crying.

"You've never seen a funeral before; have you, Yato-sama?"

Yato shook his head.

"It's important to understand the impact death has on others. The local healer in this village died the other day. She had no family but she was well loved."

They watched unnoticed at the back of the funeral as the woman, Hinatea, was buried. Yato's heart felt like it was being crushed, not unlike when he used Sakura to kill. However this time the feeling was his own.

"Yato-sama!" Sakura gasped, looking at his distressed face. "Are you okay?"

Yato nodded, suddenly feeling terribly lonely. "Can we go now?"

Sakura nodded and guided the young god away.

That night when Hiiro asks to play, Yato refuses and shuts himself away.

* * *

Harumi spends her whole life knowing something is missing but not knowing what. Occasionally she will look up at blue skies and think that there's a shade more stunning out there somewhere.

* * *

Sometimes, even when he's with father and Hiiro, Yato feels like there's someone important missing. The days when that feeling begin to show on his face are the days father is strictest with him. He is born from father's wishes; there shouldn't be anyone more important than that.

* * *

Kako looks at the man who just proposed to her. He is kind and gentle and a good match and it's not like she's waiting for anyone else.

So why does she feel so much regret when she accepts?

* * *

By the time Yato starts a partnership with Rabo, he's learnt that there's no one out there for him. He's a god of calamity. He's meant to be alone.

* * *

It's the blue more than anything that catches Hiyori's eyes as she walks past. It's a shade of blue that she has only ever seen in her dream. It catches her breath and something clicks into place deep inside her.

Then the boy darts out after a cat and she doesn't even think twice about pushing him out of the way of a bus.

* * *

Yato stares at the girl who has saved him twice and accepts the five yen coin along with her wish, even as he does so he finds himself wanting to put doing it off. He wants to keep her around. There's something familiar about her that he wants to hold on to.

When he names Yukine, he wonders why he thinks of her.

* * *

There is a girl and there is a god, their lives forever intertwined.

* * *

 _We will meet again my friend,_  
 _A hundred years from today_  
 _Far away from where we lived_  
 _And where we used to play._  
 _We will know each others' eyes_  
 _And wonder where we met_  
 _Your laugh will sound familiar_  
 _Your heart, I won't forget._

 _We will meet, I'm sure of this,_  
 _But let's not wait til then..._  
 _Let's take a walk beneath the stars_  
 _And share this world again._

We Will Meet Again, Ron Atchison

* * *

A/N: Tsukuyomi theory is the theory that Yato is actually the god Tsukuyomi and that Father forced his reincarnation and raised the new Tsukuyomi with no knowledge of his past for his own purposes. Hiyori's first life to encounter Yato lived near Iki. Iki city was the first place to have a Tsukuyomi shrine, furthermore it was built by the Iki clan. If you want to know more about the theory just google 'Tsukuyomi theory noragami' and it should be the first link that comes up.

The female god Hiyori's past lives encounter sometimes is Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi's sister. The incarnation of Hiyori offered a wish by her was Hinatea. Her name means Sunshine. The wish was partly offered because she's important to Amaterasu's brother and partly because she was named for the goddess in that lifetime.

All of Hiyori's past selves have names that are weather related or certain ways of writing it can have weather meanings. This was done because her name means 'Weather'.


End file.
